My Fur Babies

Since you can never really have too many puppy-on-the-beach pictures, here's a shot of my two fur babies running around on Dam Neck Beach in Virginia. They're only 4-5 months old in the picture. Ace (the white one) just turned 3. Roxy (the neurotic one) will celebrate her 3rd birthday next week. Both are German Shepherds. In fact, you can read Ace's pedigree here and Roxy's mom's pedigree here and her dad's here.

White German Shepherd puppies are just about the cutest widdle polar bears you'll ever see. And they make the bestest dogs EVER... unless you have allergies like my fiancee does. :( In fact, they are almost the WORST dog to have in the house with folks who have allergies. (Golden Retrievers are also "up there.") So these two are the first and only German Shepherds I'll ever have.

Charmed, I'm Sure

A friend of mine has sensitive skin and can't wear earrings unless they're gold. She asked for a charm bracelet instead. I experimented with attaching charms to silver chain bracelets and with single strand, beaded bracelets, but was never really satisfied with the outcome. In my opinion, when working with lampwork beads as charms, the heavier chain maille is a much better option. Since it really doesn't make sense to "experiment" with brand new ideas/techniques using top notch materials (likely to be ruined during the creative process), I started making up a few charm bracelets using pre-fabricated nickel bracelets.

I really liked the way this one turned out, and will probably list this as a keiki/teen piece. The others are being pulled/cut apart.

What do you think, in terms of design, etc? Do you wear charm bracelets? Is this too heavy looking? Not full enough?


PS- Go visit Beth's Baby Boutique. It's her grand opening, so "heart" her and check back after the holidays!

Teaming up!

If you're on Etsy, make a profile on We Love Etsy and then add me as a friend! Think of it as myspace for Etsy-ers. I found some new "favorite" Etsy stores, including MadisonGre which has lovely handbags, clutches, and wallets made in beautiful Asian inspired prints.

I've also joined the Etsy Moms Street Team and Etsy Homefront Teams. (The former is for moms with Etsy businesses, the latter is for spouses of active duty service members. You may point out that technically, I am not the spouse of an active duty military member... yet... which reminds me, if anyone has tips on wedding planning, I'm all ears!)

Don't forget- if you Twitter, be sure to follow me!

I've been better...

Unfortunately, strep throat is going around and I've been out of commission for a few days. So here's a picture of my son and two friends at their school's Halloween parade. (My son is the Dementor in the Middle.) Hehe, oh, by the way, I made his costume.


You can also check out my crafty mom friends and their blogs...

Sara is a friend of a friend who has become my friend. She is just a remarkable person who happens to knit and sew. She's how I found out about Connor's Caps.

Myra is a childhood friend of mine who stamps. She makes a total killing on the local craft fair circuit, so you know her stuff is great! Haha, she knows all my dirt.

Beth is a college classmate of mine. She sews and is the sweetest person you'll ever meet! But don't let that Southern charm fool you into thinking that's all there is to her. Beth is one sharp cookie!

Here, There Be Pirates... Yarrrgh!

Ok, so this has nothing to do with beading. Maybe it's just me, but I'm fascinated by pirate stories. How stupid do you have to be to think you and maybe a dozen of your craziest associates could basically cruise around in a speedboat with some rifles, hijack a huge cargo or cruise ship, and get away with it?

Well, believe it or not, while the US has a policy of not negotiating with terrorists (or pirates, for that matter), many other countries (say, for example, FRANCE) have a nasty habit of paying whatever ransom is demanded. So while you may not find a ship full of gold, there is money to be had in piracy. Most of the time, pirates focus on tankers- high value cargo, with only a handful of people. This week, pirates attacked an American operated cruise ship transiting from Rome to Singapore. Fortunately, no one was injured.

Anyone want to guess where all that booty goes?

Findings and Stuff

There's a new category of items in the store: Findings and Stuff. In this category, you'll find lots of great deals on stuff I bought as part of overzealous projects which never came to be. When I first started beading, I bought a lot of supplies in bulk before realizing that I prefer to make only one of each creation. They all use the same basic, time tested techniques, and in some cases, related color schemes, but everything made in the past year is one of a kind.

You may have heard of the Fly Lady. (For those who haven't, it's basically free help for escaping CHAOS- "Can't Have Anyone Over Syndrome" via baby steps.) I discovered the Fly Lady when I was pregnant and nesting like an obsessive-compulsive crazy woman. The clutter in the house was weighing me down. I took at least 5 car loads of stuff to Goodwill. Do you fly? Leave a comment!

So anyway, I realized that I have more beading supplies than I know what do do with at the moment, and decided to have an online garage sale of sorts. Why? Haha, so I can go buy more beads. Shhhhh... don't tell the boys!


Technorati Profile

Black Friday Specials

Although I love shopping, I hate holiday shopping. The closer it gets to Christmas, the grouchier and more desperate my fellow shoppers become. So anyway, most of my holiday shopping is done online these days... and as a "Thank you" to anyone who decides to shop Simply Leilani on Etsy this weekend, we're going to send a free pair of Christmas earrings with every order AND offer a rebate for free shipping on orders over $20.

Also, in an attempt to declutter my beading corner, we're going to start listing some findings and other goodies from my personal stash. As much as I love to bead, even I have to admit that having two full tackle boxes is probably a bit excessive. :) There will be some great deals for my crafty friends who want to save some cash this Christmas by making presents.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving! I hope everyone has a great weekend, surrounded by friends and family! We'll be off island for the day, but will be running some Black Friday specials in the Etsy shop! The best part, especially for you non-Hawaii folks, is that they won't start popping up until I actually wake up on Friday morning... which will probably be about noon, East Coast time.

Caps for Connor

Yes, yes, I also sew. Anyway, I have a soft spot for kids with cancer because when I was about 7-8 years old, one of my best friends had leukemia. So, when I heard about a young man suffering from a rare type of brain cancer, and that his friends were going to shave their heads in the dead of winter to keep him company, I couldn't help it. Anyway, I can't knit a stitch, but I did manage to sew up 11 fleece hats. Of course, my son wanted one, so we're only sending 10. Don't ask me what the kid thinks he's going to do with a fleece hat in Hawaii, but I guess it's a good sign that he thinks mom makes cool stuff!

You can read about Connor's Caps here. Connor's school is having a hat day in December, so any donations would have to be in the mail this week. However, you can always donate hats and other things to The Ship's Project. I will never forget being deployed to the Gulf and having a box of knit hats, booties, and mittens arrive. The guys in my department were ALL OVER that box, even though it was something like 120 degrees out on the flight deck. Why? Because, believe it or not, it gets cold in the winter. REALLY cold. I took a hat (even though I didn't think I needed one) because the guys told me to. OH MY GOODNESS. I never would've imagined it could get THAT cold!

Who's that girl?

You may have noticed some subtle changes around here... like a completely new name up at the top? Anyway, I'm in the process of overhauling my Etsy shop, to include a more eye catching storefront and some other things.

So, who's Leilani? She's my baby girl! We asked her Tutu (grandma) Evie to help us pick out a middle name. When she suggested Leilani, Dad and Grandpa Steve locked on to it like Ralphie and his Red Ryder BB gun. Why? Because of a little barefooted girl running around in an old John Wayne movie called Donovan's Reef. It was filmed on Kauai in the 1960's, and my dad actually remembers being on a flight with Lee Marvin following filming. (He was a kid at the time, returning from a baseball tournament.) Personally, I think the movie is completely misleading about life on a tropical island AND dreadfully BORING, but what do *I* know?

Here's a trailer for the morbidly curious:


Lest you think we're totally crazy, the baby's first name is Audrey... after Audrey Hepburn. Actually, if you knew us, you'd know we're crazy. But you know, that's just part of the fun!